Let the beauty of Nature attract us to the beauty of sacred language.
References.
Much of the wisdom of the East is conveyed in Sanskrit or Pali, which are really different dialects or accents of the same language. As the internet has developed in recent decades, more scripture and mantra is available online in both English and Pali or Sanskrit, in word-for-word translation.
The word-for-word translation reveals how the translator arrived at his translation. It also enables us to pull apart the translation, and find other ways of using the key words as the scholar translates them. We can also look up these key Sanskrit words, either in the on line dictionary, or Googling the word, or reading any Wikipedia articles about them.
We can then choose some other related English word or expression that better reflects our experience and understanding of spiritual practice. Too often people have been put off a good scripture because the translation did not “work” for them.
Word-for-word translation is transparent, educative, and encourages investigation.
Useful Websites for Word-for Word Translations.
Sacred Verse and Mantra.
www.buddha-vacana.org This website is dedicated to teaching the Pali of Buddhist Suttas. It has word-for-word translation of the Pali for very many Buddhist Suttas, and other resources, see below.
www.holy-bhagavad-gita.org has word-for-word translation of the Sanskrit.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/ also has word-for-word translation of the Sanskrit, for the Bhagavad Gita.
https://greenmesg.org/stotras/vedas has word-for-word translation of the Sanskrit, for more famous Sanskrit mantras.
Dictionaries and Glossaries.
http://lirs.ru/lib/dict/Pali-English_Dictionary,1921-25,v1.pdf gives lengthy and detailed translations. Please note the alphabetic sequence it uses, on page 1. This can be downloaded into your computer, but it does not recognise the letter ṅ So there is another version of this same dictionary, available when you’re online, at –
https://dictionary.sutta.org/
http://www.buddha-vacana.org/toolbox/dico.html is a concise Pali dictionary, with shorter translations.
http://www.buddha-vacana.org/gloss.html is a glossary of many Pali words used in Buddhist scriptures
http://www.krishna.com/glossary-k is a glossary of many Sanskrit words of importance to Hinduism.
https://sanskritdictionary.com gives many meanings per word, but accepts only the correct spelling, using all diacritics. This online dictionary is linked to https://vedabase
http://spokensanskrit.org accepts many spellings, and you choose the best word. But it gives few meanings per word. Capital letters indicate diacritic. They now use a different url : https://www.learnsanskrit.cc/
Buddhist Dictionary, by Nyanatiloka, 1946. This is a manual of Buddhist terms and doctrines in Pali, translated into English. Available at : http://www.buddhistdownload.com/2016/05/buddhist-dictionary-manual-of-buddhist-terms.html and many other websites!
Grammar and Inflections = Declensions.
https://easysanskrit.wordpress.com/tag/eight-noun-cases/ This explains how to use the different cases of Pali and Sanskrit, based on Latin cases.
http://www.buddha-vacana.org/toolbox/noundec.html These tables list the different declension or word ending for the eight grammatical cases, for Pali.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanskrit_nouns#a-stems These tables list the different inflection or word ending for the eight grammatical cases, for Sanskrit
Other Resources.
www.accesstoinsight.org has the Pali, but no word-for-word translation. It probably has the biggest and best ordered collection online of Buddhist Suttas, which are discourses of the Buddha. These are mostly translated by Thanissaro, 1995 – 2015. Several translations are provided for the more important Suttas.
https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/ is very similar to accesstoinsight, but with more cross references to related Suttas, and only Thanissaro’s translations.
Bhante Sujato, now living in at Lokanta Vihāra in Sydney, provides both Pali and English, for most Buddhist Suttas. Not word for word translation, but line for line. On : https://legacy.suttacentral.net
https://holybooks.com/interpreting-the-upanishads-by-ananda-wood has both Sanskrit and English, with much discussion. The Upanishads usually presented in obscure language that confuses more than clarifies. So I offer my own translations of select Upanishad in clear comprehensible style. Ananda Wood gives an intellectual interpretation of Upanishads.
https://www.sivasakti.com/tantra/other-hindu-deities/shiva-the-god-of-destruction/ gives a very Hindu description of Shiva.
Understanding Hinduism, by Dr DC Rao, is an excellent treatise on best principles and practices in the religion. In question and answer format. Available at –
https://www.hinduamerican.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/UnderstandingHinduismBasicQuestionsAnswered-DC-Rao.pdf
There is another treatise, same name and author, same themes, but in nineteen chapters, and easier to navigate in. Published here on this website under “Hindu Themes” in four webpages.
https://www.urbandharma.org/pdf/wordofbuddha.pdf “The Word of the Buddha by Nyanatiloka”, 1906, first published in English in 1946. This is a systematic treatise of Theravadan Buddhist doctrine. It’s in the form of almost a hundred quotes from the Pali scriptures. It gives the Pali for the important words.
The Concise Oxford Dictionary, 1982, 1200 pages. This is what I use to define English words.
The Power of Now, by Eckhart Tolle, 1997. Two million copies of this remarkable book had been sold by 2004. His lucid and non religious explanation of key Buddhist and Hindu themes, including enlightenment, God, attachment to and letting go of thought, mindfulness, consciousness, being in the Now, all these were the original inspiration to all my writings on spiritual practice.
The word-for-word translation reveals how the translator arrived at his translation. It also enables us to pull apart the translation, and find other ways of using the key words as the scholar translates them. We can also look up these key Sanskrit words, either in the on line dictionary, or Googling the word, or reading any Wikipedia articles about them.
We can then choose some other related English word or expression that better reflects our experience and understanding of spiritual practice. Too often people have been put off a good scripture because the translation did not “work” for them.
Word-for-word translation is transparent, educative, and encourages investigation.
Useful Websites for Word-for Word Translations.
Sacred Verse and Mantra.
www.buddha-vacana.org This website is dedicated to teaching the Pali of Buddhist Suttas. It has word-for-word translation of the Pali for very many Buddhist Suttas, and other resources, see below.
www.holy-bhagavad-gita.org has word-for-word translation of the Sanskrit.
https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/ also has word-for-word translation of the Sanskrit, for the Bhagavad Gita.
https://greenmesg.org/stotras/vedas has word-for-word translation of the Sanskrit, for more famous Sanskrit mantras.
Dictionaries and Glossaries.
http://lirs.ru/lib/dict/Pali-English_Dictionary,1921-25,v1.pdf gives lengthy and detailed translations. Please note the alphabetic sequence it uses, on page 1. This can be downloaded into your computer, but it does not recognise the letter ṅ So there is another version of this same dictionary, available when you’re online, at –
https://dictionary.sutta.org/
http://www.buddha-vacana.org/toolbox/dico.html is a concise Pali dictionary, with shorter translations.
http://www.buddha-vacana.org/gloss.html is a glossary of many Pali words used in Buddhist scriptures
http://www.krishna.com/glossary-k is a glossary of many Sanskrit words of importance to Hinduism.
https://sanskritdictionary.com gives many meanings per word, but accepts only the correct spelling, using all diacritics. This online dictionary is linked to https://vedabase
http://spokensanskrit.org accepts many spellings, and you choose the best word. But it gives few meanings per word. Capital letters indicate diacritic. They now use a different url : https://www.learnsanskrit.cc/
Buddhist Dictionary, by Nyanatiloka, 1946. This is a manual of Buddhist terms and doctrines in Pali, translated into English. Available at : http://www.buddhistdownload.com/2016/05/buddhist-dictionary-manual-of-buddhist-terms.html and many other websites!
Grammar and Inflections = Declensions.
https://easysanskrit.wordpress.com/tag/eight-noun-cases/ This explains how to use the different cases of Pali and Sanskrit, based on Latin cases.
http://www.buddha-vacana.org/toolbox/noundec.html These tables list the different declension or word ending for the eight grammatical cases, for Pali.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanskrit_nouns#a-stems These tables list the different inflection or word ending for the eight grammatical cases, for Sanskrit
Other Resources.
www.accesstoinsight.org has the Pali, but no word-for-word translation. It probably has the biggest and best ordered collection online of Buddhist Suttas, which are discourses of the Buddha. These are mostly translated by Thanissaro, 1995 – 2015. Several translations are provided for the more important Suttas.
https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/ is very similar to accesstoinsight, but with more cross references to related Suttas, and only Thanissaro’s translations.
Bhante Sujato, now living in at Lokanta Vihāra in Sydney, provides both Pali and English, for most Buddhist Suttas. Not word for word translation, but line for line. On : https://legacy.suttacentral.net
https://holybooks.com/interpreting-the-upanishads-by-ananda-wood has both Sanskrit and English, with much discussion. The Upanishads usually presented in obscure language that confuses more than clarifies. So I offer my own translations of select Upanishad in clear comprehensible style. Ananda Wood gives an intellectual interpretation of Upanishads.
https://www.sivasakti.com/tantra/other-hindu-deities/shiva-the-god-of-destruction/ gives a very Hindu description of Shiva.
Understanding Hinduism, by Dr DC Rao, is an excellent treatise on best principles and practices in the religion. In question and answer format. Available at –
https://www.hinduamerican.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/UnderstandingHinduismBasicQuestionsAnswered-DC-Rao.pdf
There is another treatise, same name and author, same themes, but in nineteen chapters, and easier to navigate in. Published here on this website under “Hindu Themes” in four webpages.
https://www.urbandharma.org/pdf/wordofbuddha.pdf “The Word of the Buddha by Nyanatiloka”, 1906, first published in English in 1946. This is a systematic treatise of Theravadan Buddhist doctrine. It’s in the form of almost a hundred quotes from the Pali scriptures. It gives the Pali for the important words.
The Concise Oxford Dictionary, 1982, 1200 pages. This is what I use to define English words.
The Power of Now, by Eckhart Tolle, 1997. Two million copies of this remarkable book had been sold by 2004. His lucid and non religious explanation of key Buddhist and Hindu themes, including enlightenment, God, attachment to and letting go of thought, mindfulness, consciousness, being in the Now, all these were the original inspiration to all my writings on spiritual practice.
